Letters to Pete: “I had met a woman who was hard working and honest…But we live in different worlds.”
By Angela S., NY
Every day, Pete Buttigieg receives letters from Americans who believe we need a new approach to solve our nation’s biggest challenges. This is one of them. The following letter is transcribed as it was received on September 16th, 2019.
Dear Mayor Buttigieg,
My name is Angela S. I work as a Registered Nurse Clinical Care Manager at a hospital in Upstate New York. My work is generally focused around case management and discharge planning.
My job entails that I meet with patients, learn about their life, and try to marry that with their medical needs in a way that is cost effective for the hospital and realistic for the patient. As you can imagine, this doesn’t always happen easily.
Yesterday I was at work and I met a woman in her late fifties. She had recently had a surgical procedure that left her with a colostomy. She had come to the hospital because her colostomy was painful and malfunctioning. While talking with her I learned that she does not have health insurance because her low paying job refuses to allow her to work full time and thus qualify for insurance. Her employer keeps her working literally 39 hours per week. She cannot go on her husbands insurance because her family cannot afford the $800 per month price tag that comes with a family plan. She told me she had looked into enrolling in Medicaid in the past but was told that she and her husband make too much money to qualify.
This patient had been cobbling together medical care for the better part of a year. She had no primary care doctor, because who is going to accept an uninsured patient? By the time she got to me, she had not changed her ostomy bag in over a week and had not taken insulin in close to a month. She was quickly spiraling into an overall dire state of health.
I walked out of her room feeling like I have never felt before. Sure, I’ve met plenty of patients without health insurance and my fair share of people who are underinsured and cannot afford life sustaining medication like insulin. But something about this situation felt different.
I had met a woman who was hard working and honest. She got up to go to work each morning just like I did. Her husband did the same. But we live in different worlds. Her employer is failing her. The system is failing her. America is failing her.
I left that room feeling more helpless than I ever have before.
I have been following your campaign from the moment I saw you on the Colbert show when you announced you had formed an exploratory committee to run for President. You are the first political candidate I have ever donated money to. I wear my “Boot Edge Edge” shirt around town all the time. I’ve planned “date nights” at home for every debate thus far and listened to my husband say “here’s your guy” every time it’s your turn to speak.
But I did not realize until yesterday at 2:45 pm while working on the med-surg floor as a Clinical Care Manager just how much this country needs you.
We need your progressive views. We need your clear plans, sound mind, and good heart. We need to do something about the every day Americans who are struggling because the current policies favor only a portion of us, and leave millions and millions of our neighbors hanging out to dry.
I hope I get the change to meet you some day. I hope you will be the President of the United States that this country so desperately needs.
Sending you all my energy, Mayor Pete. Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Angela S., NY
Pete is committed to ensuring that every American can choose affordable health care through Medicare for All Who Want It. Read his plan to learn more.
